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Clearly the Hong Kong Government pays a very great deal of time

and attention to Education:

and rightly so,

Paradoxically, although

"people" may well be one of our greatest problems at the moment (and here

-

-

not just

I refer especially to the vast influx of immigrants from China this past

year): although "people" are a worry in that sense it is also undoubtedly

true that "people" are our most valuable asset, and in Hong Kong - will

always be so, It would be a criminal waste of this priceless asset if we

did not encourage its development in every way practicable:

academically, important though that is, but even more importantly in terms

of our people as citizens, and all that that implies. Education is the

Key: and the teaching profession, surely, must be one of the most important,

most satisfying and valuable of all professions.

Which brings me to a happy task. I must take this opportunity

She

to pay an especial tribute to your Headmistress, Mrs Joyce Symons.

is a modest woman but I will not spare her blushes and will say how very

much I admire her example not only in DGS but in the community of Hong

Kong. I venture to say that as you all grow older you will come to

appreciate your Headmistress and admire her bravery, her compassion and

her reliability much more even than you do today. Mrs Symons and I have

known each other for a good many years and I have had the privilege of

serving with her in both the Legislative and Executive Councils of

Government. How she manages to do everything she does has always amazed

me, still amazes me. She is of course an old girl of the school who has

become the embodiment of DGS. Mark well her example and follow it.

Mrs Symons is my idea of a community leader, ready to listen and ready

to act, modest in acknowledging others' ideas but unafraid to supply

her own while always conceding that they may not be exclusive wisdom.

That is an aim of perfection.

/Girls of.....